• 1/2 cup of butter
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon of Tate and Lyle golden syrup
• 1 cup of normal baking flower
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 cup luxury fruit mix (usually contains raisins, cherries, apricot, pineapple – Available from Sainsburys)
• 1 cup currants (nice and cheap brand will do)
• 1/2 cup of mixed unsalted nuts
• 1/4 cup of glazed cherries
• 1/2 a tablespoon of baking soda dissolved in 1/4 cup of milk
• 1/2 a cup of brandy. This can be substituted with whisky.

Now this seems like a lot of ingredients, but it is very easy to knock together and doesn’t take long to make.

1. Mix the butter and sugar together with an electronic beater. Do this until it is smooth.
2. Add the eggs one by one.
3. Add the syrup.
4. Add the salt.
5. Add the vanilla essence.
6. Add the flower and continue to mix.
7. Add the baking soda (that has been dissolved in the milk).
8. Add the brandy.
9. Add the fruit and nuts as above and mix. If the nuts are very large I would suggest you chop them smaller or put them through a food processor.

Now to bake. This is the bit that takes a while, but worth it.

1. Butter the cake tin.
2. Pour the mixture in.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 140Celsius
4. Bake it for about 3 1/2 – 4 hours.

You will find the cake goes nice and dark the last hour or so. It doesn’t rise very much, due to the mass of the fruit etc. What makes it expand is by adding a 1/4 of a cup of brandy every two days leading up to Christmas. This both preserves it and keeps it moist. If you don’t drink or have an objection to having alcohol in it, simply bake it the week to a few days before you serve and it should still be nice and moist.

Enjoy!